MIRROR TO MIRRORLESS

 

The ongoing transition from DSLR to the mirrorless may be gradual, but it reminds of the earlier transitions, especially of “manual” to “auto focus” and “film” to “digital”. While both the “manual” as well as  “film” are still being accepted and used, they are now more of a hobby. Technology keeps rolling out new developments and many innovations get accepted. Reports indicate that Canon no longer intends to produce any more flagship DSLR and Nikon has discontinued its popular D500 and no replacement has been announced.

In the recent years, the mirrorless cameras have undergone tremendous technological improvement that has given push to the camera market thus setting the pace for gradual phasing out of DSLR cameras. But this hard task master will not die at least in the near future. Let’s try to understand how good is the mirrorless, especially for wildlife photographers, who like photojournalists often question its parity with the one they have been using with trust for decades. They have accumulated an array of lenses and accessories for their DSLRs which would be hard to part with.

One of the basic observation is that  it is easy to switch from a Canon or Nikon or  any other DSLR brand to its mirrorless sibling because the menu is structured in their well-known  style with almost similar buttons as previous cameras. Therefore,  finding and using the basic functions takes hardly any adaptation time. However as mirrorless camera offers quite a few more functions and options. To some the menu may be slightly different and a little hard to find a few of its functions.

The latest mirrorless cameras are packed with a lot of new and impressive features into their rugged  bodies having drip and dust resistance. They can also be operated in extremely low temperature. Now these cameras are up-to-date in every aspect. Like a smart phone, we can easily touch their screen to focus on our subject. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth features make it easy to pair these with other devices such as smartphones to transfer large amounts of data without any wire.

Although both the DSLR and the mirrorless cameras do differ in their construction and design, yet they have similar sensors, image quality, technologies and basic features. With removal of mirror and prism, camera size and weight have been considerably reduced. Those who are used to bigger size of camera bodies to handle long lenses may find these smaller bodies inconvenient, especially if they have to wear gloves. Adapters are available for mirrorless systems so that photographers  are able to use most of their SLR lenses with full autofocus and aperture control.

In both the DSLR and the mirrorless  cameras, we see through the lens, but they have different ways to show us how will be the image. In DSLRs the optical image is reflected by the mirror and we see it through the view finder. With the release of shutter, the mirror flips upward and sensor gets exposed to the image. On the other hand, mirrorless camera being without a mirror, a live view is created and we see the image either on back screen or through the Electronic View Finder (EVF). Nowadays the EVFs are much improved with high resolution and clarity of the optical view finder. The fast refresh rate has eliminated viewfinder lag to quickly follow moving subjects. The blackout effect that we used to see while shooting continuous bursts of images is now a thing of the past. In a mirrorless camera, what we see in EVF is what we get.This  ability to see our exposure while composing an image is a significant advantage of these cameras. It also enables us to see in real time how our settings change our exposure, depth of field and more. If required, changes can be applied instantly while looking through the viewfinder. It is something optical viewfinder cannot do. The EVF is good enough to show a more clearly visible view of a scene even in low light.

The autofocus system too has been further improved and its features either match or surpass DSLRs for autofocus speed. Although the DSLR cameras are fast yet the focusing speeds on most mirrorless camera can be just that bit faster. This comes down to the fact that mirrorless cameras use many more focus points than DSLRs. In the absence of mirror, they can read sensor while performing autofocus and this is a significant advantage. Therefore, mirrorless camera’s focus is more accurate than DSLR. Also, they neither suffer from lens alignment issues nor back or front focusing issues. The Face/Eye Detection AF and Animal Face/Eye-Detection AF  are interesting features. Unlike the DSLRs, the AF sensors in mirrorless AF systems can go right upto the edges of the frame. When live-view is engaged in a DSLR, it behaves the same way as a mirrorless camera, but does not always have the same features of a mirrorless.

Before you go in for a mirrorless camera, its better to ensure that it has no trouble in achieving subject auto focus that is  AF-C in low contrast situations. Although many new mirrorless cameras have quick start up and no viewfinder blackout, yet some  mirrorless cameras take a moment to start up. It can be half a second or so to come out of standby mode.

A more prominent feature of mirrorless cameras is the responsiveness of the shutter release button. These cameras instantaneously capture photos as there is no mirror to move out of the way when the shutter release button is pressed. This is useful especially in capturing fast action, such as a fast  flying bird or any other fast action taking place. Their frame rate is also very high and the silent mode is appreciably silent. Some mirrorless cameras can record 10-bit 8K UHD video at 24, 25 or 30 FPS for extended period of time, which can be two hours in some cameras. So is the capability of sustained fast continuous shooting bursts with very high FPS  burst speed for both JPG and RAW files.

As compared to the DSLRs, the  size and life of a mirrorless  camera battery is short. The  functions like LCD display or the electronic viewfinder and built in image stabilization in camera bodies make them dependent on battery. When using long lenses, their long focal length having larger and heavier focusing elements, require a lot more power to move than the typically smaller and shorter focal length lenses. The best solution is to keep extra batteries in your bag. Some mirrorless cameras support USB charging thus having  the advantage of charging the battery  within the camera body. For this there are three options to charge--with a wall plug or a power bank or with a computer.

The wildlife photographers and photojournalists look for parity of the mirrorless cameras with the DSLRs. The hard core DSLR users may feel that the mirrorless has neither yet replaced the DSLR nor has fully reached parity with it. For many their concern is availability of lenses and focus performance while tracking subjects. The fact is they have not only attained parity, but have even surpassed the DSLR in some significant areas. Therefore, you aren’t losing out in any way if you opt for a mirrorless camera. This replies the much talked about question “does mirrorless holds key to the future”, ‘yes’ future belongs to the mirrorless.   

DSLR Camera

Subhash Sapru

Mirrorless Camera

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